Interactive robots participating in our daily lives should have the fundamental ability to socially communicate with humans. In this paper, we propose a mechanism for two social communication ...abilities: forming long-term relationships and estimating friendly relationships among people. The mechanism for long-term relationships is based on three principles of behavior design. The robot we developed, Robovie, is able to interact with children in the same way as children do. Moreover, the mechanism is designed for long-term interaction along the following three design principles: (1) it calls children by name using radio frequency identification tags; (2) it adapts its interactive behaviors for each child based on a pseudo development mechanism; and (3) it confides its personal matters to the children who have interacted with the robot for an extended period of time. Regarding the estimation of friendly relationships, the robot assumes that people who spontaneously behave as a group together are friends. Then, by identifying each person in the interacting group around the robot, it estimates the relationships between them. We conducted a two-month field trial at an elementary school. An interactive humanoid robot, Robovie, was placed in a classroom at the school. The results of the field trial revealed that the robot successfully continued interacting with many children for two months, and seemed to have established friendly relationships with them. In addition, it demonstrated reasonable performance in identifying friendships among children. We believe that these results demonstrate the potential of current interactive robots to establish social relationships with humans in our daily lives.
Summary
Background
Bariatric surgery leads to a higher remission rate for type 2 diabetes mellitus than non‐surgical treatment. However, it remains unsolved which surgical procedure is the most ...efficacious. This network meta‐analysis aimed to rank surgical procedures in terms of diabetes remission.
Methods and findings
We electronically searched for randomized controlled trials in which at least one surgical treatment was included among multiple arms and the diabetes remission rate was included in study outcomes. A random‐effects network meta‐analysis was performed within a frequentist framework. The hierarchy of treatments was expressed as the surface under the cumulative ranking curve value. Results of the analysis of 25 eligible randomized controlled trials that covered non‐surgical treatments and eight surgical procedures (biliopancreatic diversion BPD, BPD with duodenal switch, Roux‐en Y gastric bypass, mini gastric bypass mini‐GBP, laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding, laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy, greater curvature plication and duodenal‐jejunal bypass) showed that BPD and mini‐GBP had the highest surface under the cumulative ranking curve values among the eight surgical treatments.
Conclusion
Current network meta‐analysis indicated that BPD or mini‐GBP achieved higher diabetes remission rates than the other procedures. However, the result needs to be interpreted with caution considering that these procedures were in the minority of bariatric surgeries.
Several studies have shown that the human gaze, but not the robot gaze, has significant effects on infant social cognition and facilitate social engagement. The present study investigates early ...understanding of the referential nature of gaze by comparing-through the eye-tracking technique-infants' response to human and robot's gaze. Data were acquired on thirty-two 17-month-old infants, watching four video clips, where either a human or a humanoid robot performed an action on a target. The agent's gaze was either turned to the target (congruent) or opposite to it (incongruent). The results generally showed that, independent of the agent, the infants attended longer at the face area compared to the hand and target. Additionally, the effect of referential gaze on infants' attention to the target was greater when infants watched the human compared to the robot's action. These results suggest the presence, in infants, of two distinct levels of gaze-following mechanisms: one recognizing the other as a potential interactive partner, the second recognizing partner's agency. In this study, infants recognized the robot as a potential interactive partner, whereas ascribed agency more readily to the human, thus suggesting that the process of generalizability of gazing behaviour to non-humans is not immediate.
Brain expression of CB2 cannabinoid receptors has been much less well established and characterized in comparison to the expression of brain CB1 receptors. Since CB2 receptors are intensely expressed ...in peripheral and immune tissues, expression in brain microglia has been anticipated. Nevertheless, we now describe expression of CB2-receptor-like immunoreactivity in brain in neuronal patterns that support broader CNS roles for this receptor. Two anti-CB2 affinity purified polyclonal antibodies were raised in rabbits immunized with peptide conjugates that corresponded to amino acids 1–33 and 20–33. Western blot analyses revealed specific bands that were identified using these sera and were absent when the sera were preadsorbed with 8.3 μg/ml of the immunizing peptides. These studies, and initial RT-PCR analyses of brain CB1 and CB2 mRNAs, also support the expression of brain CB2 receptor transcripts at levels much lower than those of CB1 receptors. CB2 cannabinoid receptor mRNA was clearly expressed in the cerebellum of wild type but not in CB2 knockout mice. CB2 immunostaining was detected in the interpolar part of spinal 5th nucleus of wild type but not in CB2 knockout mice, using a mouse C-terminal CB2 receptor antibody. Immunohistochemical analyses revealed abundant immunostaining for CB2 receptors in apparent neuronal and glial processes in a number of rat brain areas. Cerebellar Purkinje cells and hippocampal pyramidal cells revealed substantial immunoreactivity that was absent when sections were stained with preadsorbed sera. CB2 immunoreactivity was also observed in olfactory tubercle, islands of Calleja, cerebral cortex, striatum, thalamic nuclei, hippocampus, amygdala, substantia nigra, periaqueductal gray, paratrochlear nucleus, paralemniscal nucleus, red nucleus, pontine nuclei, inferior colliculus and the parvocellular portion of the medial vestibular nucleus. In-vitro, CB2 immunoreactivity was also present in hippocampal cell cultures. The multifocal expression of CB2 immunoreactivity in glial and neuronal patterns in a number of brain regions suggests reevaluation of the possible roles that CB2 receptors may play in the brain.
Cannabinoids, endocannabinoids and marijuana activate two well‐characterized cannabinoid receptors (CB‐Rs), CB1‐Rs and CB2‐Rs. The expression of CB1‐Rs in the brain and periphery has been well ...studied, but neuronal CB2‐Rs have received much less attention than CB1‐Rs. Many studies have now identified and characterized functional glial and neuronal CB2‐Rs in the central nervous system. However, many features of CB2‐R gene structure, regulation and variation remain poorly characterized in comparison with the CB1‐R. In this study, we report on the discovery of a novel human CB2 gene promoter transcribing testis (CB2A) isoform with starting exon located ca 45 kb upstream from the previously identified promoter transcribing the spleen isoform (CB2B). The 5′ exons of both CB2 isoforms are untranslated 5′UTRs and alternatively spliced to the major protein coding exon of the CB2 gene. CB2A is expressed higher in testis and brain than CB2B that is expressed higher in other peripheral tissues than CB2A. Species comparison found that the CB2 gene of human, rat and mouse genomes deviated in their gene structures and isoform expression patterns. mCB2A expression was increased significantly in the cerebellum of mice treated with the CB‐R mixed agonist, WIN55212‐2. These results provide much improved information about CB2 gene structure and its human and rodent variants that should be considered in developing CB2‐R‐based therapeutic agents.
Several studies have shown that infants anticipate human goal-directed actions, but not robot’s ones. However, the studies focusing on the robot goal-directed actions have mainly analyzed the effect ...of mechanical arms on infant’s attention. To date, the prediction of goal-directed actions in infants has not yet been studied when the agent is a humanoid robot. Given this lack of evidence in infancy research, the present study aims at analyzing infants’ action anticipation of both a human’s and a humanoid robot’s goal-directed action. Data were acquired on thirty 17-month-old infants, watching four video clips, where either a human or a humanoid robot performed a goal-directed action, i.e. reaching a target. Infants looking behavior was measured through the eye-tracking technique. The results showed that infants anticipated the goal-directed action of both the human and the robot and there were no differences in the anticipatory gaze behavior between the two agents. Furthermore, the findings indicated different attentional patterns for the human and the robot, showing a greater attention paid to the robot's face than the human’s face. Overall, the results suggest that 17-month-old infants may infer also humanoid robot’ underlying action goals.
Hepatic insulin clearance (HIC) is important in regulating plasma insulin levels. Diminished HIC causes inappropriate hyperinsulinaemia, and both obesity and fatty liver (FL), which are known to ...decrease HIC, can be found either together in the same patient or on their own. The mechanism by which obesity reduces HIC is presumed to be mediated by FL. However, few reports have examined the role of FL in the relationship between obesity and HIC in type 2 diabetes (T2D) patients. Therefore, our study investigated the association of HIC with clinical factors, including insulin sensitivity indices, focusing on the presence or absence of FL and obesity in T2D patients.
Baseline data from 419 patients with T2D (279 men, 140 women; mean age: 57.6 years; body mass index: 25.5kg/m2) controlled by diet and exercise were analyzed. HIC was calculated from the ratio of fasting c-peptide to fasting insulin levels (HICCIR). Correlation analyses between HICCIR and clinical variables were performed using Pearson's product-moment correlation coefficients and single regression analysis in all participants and in those with obesity and FL either alone or in combination.
HICCIR was significantly correlated with whole-body insulin sensitivity indices and influenced by FL, but only in the FL group was obesity independently influenced HIC level. HICCIR decreased in those with both FL and obesity compared with those with only one such complication.
HICCIR may be used to evaluate whole-body insulin sensitivity in T2D. Also, compared with obesity, the influence of FL strongly contributed to a reduced HIC.
These trials were registered by the Japan Pharmaceutical Information Centre clinical trials information (JapicCTI) as 101349 and 101351.
Background Males have a higher incidence of bladder cancer than females, but the reason remains unknown. Unlike prostate cancer, human bladder cancer is not generally considered to be dependent on ...hormone activity. We investigated the possible involvement of androgens and the androgen receptor (AR) in bladder cancer. Methods We used N-butyl-N-(4-hydroxybutyl)nitrosamine (BBN) to induce bladder cancer in wild-type male and female mice, with and without castration in males, and in AR knockout (ARKO) male and female mice, with and without dihydrotestosterone (DHT) supplementation in males. We also treated human bladder cancer cell lines, including TCC-SUP and UMUC3, and mouse xenograft models established from these same lines with androgen deprivation therapy (antiandrogen treatment or castration), AR–small-interfering RNA (AR-siRNA), or the anti-AR molecule ASC-J9, which causes selective degradation of the AR. Results More than 92% of wild-type male and 42% of wild-type female mice treated with BBN eventually developed bladder cancer, whereas none of the male or female ARKO mice did. Treatment with BBN induced bladder cancer in 25% of ARKO mice supplemented with DHT and in 50% of castrated wild-type male mice. Androgen deprivation of AR-positive human bladder cancer cells by androgen depletion in vitro or castration in mice and/or by treatment with the antiandrogen flutamide in vitro or in vivo, as well as AR knockdown by AR-siRNA or by ASC-J9, suppressed cell proliferation in vitro and xenograft tumor growth in vivo. Conclusions Our findings implicate the involvement of both androgens and the AR in bladder cancer. Targeting AR and androgens may provide novel chemopreventive and therapeutic approaches for bladder cancer.
PDF
